When we tend to think of the various mediums that comprise artistic endeavors – film, music, photography, painting, sculpture –, we tend to think of them in terms of the way that they reflect our society. What they have to say about the world we live in. But how often do we think about the reverse – how they shape and influence the culture they become a part of? Or – indeed – if do they at all. (Hint: they do.)
Well, today, that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about!
The History and Purpose of Art
I suppose it’s fair to begin any discussion about media by looking at the history and purpose of art, regardless of the medium in which it’s expressed. In that vein, I contend that the original intention of art was to teach.
Likely originating with various oral traditions, storytelling was the original form of artistic expression. Ephemeral as they may be, these tales, both true and fictitious, allowed individuals or groups to pass down vital information. What happens if you were cornered by a predator? How do you hunt? What sorts of vegetation is edible?
It’s hard to say exactly how these stories were told, or the degree of theatricality involved (not the least of which due to the likely rudimentary nature of spoken language at the time), but it’s undeniable that the original intention of conveying this information was to impart wisdom to others. Particularly, wisdom about the world around them. How they could not only survive, but thrive, and continue to help the group. Storytelling was, in essence, all about survival.
As time progressed, someone eventually had the idea of converting these oral traditions into a visual medium. This is where the art of cave painting began. While thought of as archaic today, these pictures were revolutionary at the time. Now, stories or ideas could be preserved for longer than the time it took to tell them. Sure, detail was no doubt lost in the translation, but the novel concept of being able to continually revisit a created tale was immeasurably important.
It’s also perhaps unsurprising, given the mediums involved in crafting these paintings, that they were created inside caves. They were one of the few areas that were less subject to environmental changes, such as rain or sun, which would no doubt degrade the image – the same type of traits, by the way, which made these environments such an ideal place for the people themselves to reside. After all, what better place to have the visual representations of their knowledge displayed, than in their own dwelling?
Whether it be stories about being surrounded by large cats or yarns about the rising of the sun, these cave paintings allowed knowledge about the world to be conveyed forward through time, even after the passing of the originator.
As the centuries moved on, and the written word began to take hold, stories more often than not continued to retain valuable information about the world around us: exploring the human experience in all its many forms – from love to death, wonder to danger.
Enter Film
[Note: While I could, no doubt, write a novel regarding nearly every medium, I will instead primarily focus my argument on that of film, as that is my area of particular of both interest and “expertise.” That said, many of the things I’m saying here about film are equally applicable to most other mediums. So, while I am playing favorites a bit, it’s also true that the generalities involved remain nearly universally applicable. With that said…]
In the early days of film, storytellers were (perhaps unsurprisingly) rather limited. The length of stories being told we’re typically dictated by the amount of film they had on hand and, thus, usually only lasted a few seconds (or minutes, at most). This meant that the majority of media created at the time was quite literally a snapshot of life. People in the garden. A train coming to a stop. A bustling town square.
For people who had never seen moving images before, these were all striking and enthralling reflections of the world they lived in. Moving photographs. An absolute miracle! That said, they lacked any real narrative death and had no lesson or story to be imparted. They were really only meant to be marveled at, not absorbed.
As technology and techniques improved – from the advent of editing to better quality film stock, followed by the addition of sound and then special effects – artists achieved a greater degree of freedom in their ability to tell actual stories within the medium. While still rudimentary by today’s standards, these artists were now free to create characters with actual objectives: plots that could draw the viewer in and then be resolved. Unsurprisingly, many early films centered on clear “good versus evil” motifs. They showed a dastardly villain tying a girl to the train tracks and a hero arriving to save her, Buster Keaton doing crazy and outlandish things that were not possible in reality, and the monsters of our imaginations brought to life in vivid movement.
In their own way, they too were reflecting the culture and values of the time in which they were created: the fears of the era, coupled with the norms and expectations of those living in it. Of course, artists were not completely free to do whatever they wanted – they were still limited by what could be deemed culturally acceptable at the time and what was physically possible to produce on screen. Nevertheless, despite these limitations, filmmakers were able to push the medium forward in ever-impressive reflections of the world they inhabited and their own imaginations.
Through the Decades
As time rolled on, advancements in technology – coupled with ever greater freedoms in cultural acceptability – allowed artists to more accurately reflect the world in which they lived. For instance: whereas filmmakers in the 30s, 40s, and 50s might have been shackled by their ability to accurately depict the two world wars that had recently engulfed their entire societies, such limitations were quickly falling away in favor of more realistic representations of the world.
The 1970s brought with it a wave of independent and counterculture film that allowed voices and ideas previously unheard in the medium the ability to be seen and experienced. Easy Rider showed a depiction of youth and motorcycle culture that more closely reflected the reality of the lives of those in the era, while horror films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre delved into the unnerving depravity sometimes found in the world, by showing an unblinking look at the face of evil.
The special effects boom of the 1980s allowed many filmmakers the ability to show hyper-realistic or even science-fiction takes on the gritty and grimy nature of the world around them. Audiences would be treated to grim fairytales of potential realities to come, should the then-current trends of the world continue: Cities like New York and Los Angeles converted to ad-hoc prisons. A world controlled and ravaged by technology as seen in The Terminator. Desert wastelands brought on by nuclear war like those seen in Road Warrior. A bleak future where the value of individual life is worth less than a corporate asset, shown to perfection in Ridley Scott’s Alien (technically,that was in the 1970s – but it was right on the cusp).
Films in the new millennium, crafted primarily after the September 11th attacks and the ensuing War on Terror, often focused on overly-gruesome depictions of body horror or the grim realities of war and terrorism. There was a certain bleakness throughout the decade that pervaded everything – a culture attempting to deal with its demons by speaking them aloud in the form of cinema.
While I could continue, touching on every single decade and the various trends in the marketplace, I think the idea is clear. Films often reflect the values and culture of the society that made them. They reveal the reality of the world through the lens of human experience and often show an expectation of a future yet to come. They can be aspirational for what we hope to achieve or shine a light on those threats already around us.
They are – in effect – a mirror for the world we live in. A fanciful reflection of reality.
Media Shapes Cultures
But film (and media in general) is far more than just a representation of the world “as it is.” This is because it is not merely some passive force outside of society – it is something that exists within the very ecosystem it is commenting on. The people in the world experience the art about their world and then it, in turn, influences them.
Think about how the success of the movie Jaws, when coupled with the real-life lack of understanding about sharks at the time, led to severe overfishing and cultural disdain for the species. A film about a fictitious shark led to the deaths of thousands of actual sharks.
consider how – nearly 70 years after its release – people still associate the violin screech of Psycho with someone getting stabbed. Or think about how the television show Modern Family, through its depiction of gay couple Cameron and Mitch, helped ingratiate an acceptance of queer relationships in a way previously unseen amongst certain demographics.
Examine how those filmmakers who grew up watching the stop motion mastery of Roger Corman went on to create the next generation of special effects with films like Star Wars and Indiana Jones. These films then, in turn, influenced yet more people to become invested and interested in the craft of special effects – thereby pushing the next generation even further.
On a smaller scale, think of all the various sayings and touchstones (now entrenched in our culture) that got their start in a film or a television show. The idea of the lightsaber (or “laser sword”) is now as commonplace as that of a bicycle and the prevalence of superhero movies has now made comic books and their characters – something once on the fringes of society – a staple part of our pop culture lexicon.
From the president quoting Back to the Future in a State of the Union address to Netflix documentaries causing people to push for the release of individuals from prison, media has more cultural impact now than ever before. It is in a perpetual cycle of reflecting the world to itself and, in doing so, changing its subject. Art is not released into a void. It is as much a part of the world it attempts to mimic as it is a freestanding commentary.
And this is not just true on a broad level, but on an individual one, as well. The movies or shows that you grew up watching taught you about the world around you almost as much as those people actually in your life. They showed you how men and women were expected to act, they taught values and life lessons, and they encouraged you to think about the world in unique and different ways that perhaps might never have occurred to you otherwise. They quite literally helped shape the foundations of your experience of your life.
And this is true for all of us. It’s also why different people have different nostalgia for various media. Sure, there are those pieces so prevalent and powerful that hardly anyone can escape them (Star Wars, for example), but there are also those intrinsically tailored to you. Gullah, Gullah Island, Gremlins, The Thief and the Cobbler – these are but a tiny smattering of things that might have meant a lot to you as a child… or that you’ve maybe never even heard of. Nevertheless, to someone, they were influential in teaching them about reality – no matter how realistic (or unrealistic) the piece of art in question may be.
So, by shaping not just the larger narratives of our society, but by molding the individual experiences of each of us, media is able to influence and impact the world in which it is released. Sometimes these influences are goodand result in a positive change – a cleaner environment, perhaps – while in other cases it only aids in furthering the darkness already present by confirming our worst fears.
Conclusion
Media is a collective dream we all share. A way of coalescing millions of lifetimes of experience into singular distillations of what it is to be human and alive within the world. A commentary on the brevity of life and the harshness of reality. A beacon of joy and love in a world in which they can often be lost. A call to action to change both our lives and the world around us. A warning of the dangers that lurk around the corner for those unlucky or unsuspecting. A tool for teaching about life as much as it is a tool for changing it.
And this fact is not lost on the artist. He or she is intrinsically aware that any piece of media they create is only done so to bring it out of the ether of their mind and into the tangible reality in which they exist. To share their thoughts, ideas, and concepts with others in an attempt to create change, either external in the world or internal in the audience.
At its most basic, art is communication. And media is art. Just like the storytellers of old, passing down oral traditions around the campfire, artists today craft media with the intention of not only reflecting their own experiences but in the hopes of informing and influencing others.
Because, let’s be clear – even when all art was but ephemeral word of mouth, and when it only reflected the stark nature of the world around us with no greater narrative, its intention was always to change the world and culture around it. To impart lessons of wisdom that would alter the behavior of the listener. To help them survive, both as an individual and as a tribe.
At its very core, art has always been an active force in the world rather than a passive one. A powerful and unique tool in the human arsenal to affect not just the world around us, but the people around us. The culture around us. To shape the very path forward as we blaze it. To teach us not only where we are, but where we want to go, and where we have already been. To allow us to learn and connect with information in a more personal way – in the form of story (whatever form it takes).
In that way, media is (and has always been) just as much about affecting change as much as it is about reflecting life. While not every work of art will go on to have lasting effects across all of humanity, on its best days, and in its strongest and most meaningful manifestations:
Media shapes cultures.
Because media shapes people.
Chris